THE EXAMPLES ILLUSTRATED
Knot: Senna. Ten to the inch vertically and seven horizontally, making seventy to the square inch; unusually close for a rug of this class.
This piece is of an unusually fine grade with a long nap and beautiful colors. The field, like that of nearly all Khivas, is filled with conventional octagon and diamond forms with a small eight-pointed star between each.
Shortell Rug (page [120]).—Prayer rugs of this particular class are extremely rare and the peculiar prayer niche in this one is certainly most unique and unusual. Note the hands in the two upper corners of the field. It is on these that the worshipper is supposed to place his hands while prostrating himself in the act of prayer.
KHIVA BOKHARA (AFGHAN) CARPET
PROPERTY OF PROF. DELMAR HAWKINS
BESHIR
Why So Named.—After the words "Bech Schehr," meaning "Five Villages," being woven in five adjoining villages west of Khiva on the shores of the Amour Daria River in Turkestan.
Knot.—Either the Senna or the Ghiordes, usually the former. Number vertically five to ten; number horizontally six to twelve; number to the square inch thirty to one hundred twenty.
Warp.—Wool or goat's hair.